Mount Hood, in Oregon, tops out at 11,239 feet.  The route I took is the left (south) side (photo courtesy of summitpost.org)

X marks the spot where Kelly James, one of the 3 climbers, died in a snowcave (December 2006)

Mount Hood with lenticular cloud cap  (photo courtesy of summitpost.org)

The route I took   (photo courtesy of summitpost.org)

Camp at 9,000 feet.
I left this camp at 3 AM to get an early start to the summit under a 90% full moon (photo by span)

I was alone at this camp for about 13 hours and had to kill lots of time (photo by span)

At sunrise the mountain cast it's pointy shadow on top of the clouds over a mile below.
The smoke coming from the rock is sulfur gas (photo by span)

The route ascends along a ridge called the Hogsback (photo by span)

I got to the summit around 6:30 AM.
Mount Rainier can be seen in the distance, to the North.
To my left the mountain drops straight down about a half mile, this is the site of the 3 Dec. 2006 deaths.
On June 27, 2005 a week into the summer, the temp at the summit was about 20 degrees F with the wind blowing
about 40 mph making the wind chill  = >  -22 degrees F
 

Descending thru the legendary "Pearly Gates", the crux of the climb. 9,000 foot camp
is marked with the "X". (photo by span)

Climbing notes:

It's not that hard a climb the south side if you start from 8,500 feet by paying $20
and ride the ski lift up from the lodge at 6,000 feet, like I did.

So your vertical ascent  is less than 3,000. (2,800)

Route has some objective danger, due to rockfall. Saw
one cantaloupe sized rock whiz by at about 50 mph
within 30 feet of me. That's why you climb between
2 am and 7 am so rocks are still frozen into the mountain.

This climb is best done done around May or early June
when more snow holds the rocks in.

It's technically not that hard, but if you make a bad
foot placement on parts of the route, and miss a self
arrest, you could die. Or people above you could fall and
knock you off into a crevasse.

This was the cause and location of the accident that
spawned the dramatic helicopter crash that you saw two or three years ago

Guy died Friday June 24th, 2005 on the mountain, on another, more
difficult, route, the Cooper Spur. He fell 1,200 feet. while soloing.